Apparatus for feeding and stacking folded printed articles in bundles

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for feeding and stacking printed articles such as folded newspapers in bundles. A printed article transfer conveyor has a detecting mechanism positioned above it comprised of a light projector and a light receiver. A bending device is provided in association with the conveyor for successively bending printed articles being conveyed. The detecting mechanism detects the shadow formed on an overlap portion between the folded bent portions of preceding and succeeding printed articles. A downwardly inclined opening and closing fork at the discharge end of the said transfer conveyor has comblike fork halves having adjacent ends opposed to each other with a small clearance therebetween and which are movable toward and away from each other a small distance along the plane of the downwardly inclined opening and closing fork. A rotatable basket is positioned beneath the fork halves for receiving a batch of articles therefrom, and a pusher is also provided for pushing out a bundle of printed articles from the basket wherein printed articles are stacked to form said bundle. A bottom sheet feeder and an identification card feeder are provided adjacent a roller conveyor onto which the bundles are pushed. An article-counting device is connected to the light receiver for counting articles detected and a control system is connected between the counting device and the rest of the apparatus for controlling the operation of the various parts when the desired number of articles has been counted.

United States Patent [72] Inventors Hajime Shibanuma Ashiya, I-Iyogo;Taneji Kishioka, Toyonaka, Osaka, both of Japan [21] Appl. No. 852,065[22] Filed Aug. 21,1969 [45] Patented Oct. 12, 1971 [73] Assignee HamadaPrinting Press Mfg. Co., Ltd.

Osaka, Japan Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 585,649, Oct.10, 1966, now abandoned.

[54] APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND STACKING FOLDED PRINTED ARTICLES INBUNDLES 14 Claims, 29 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.Cl 93/93 C, 93/93 DP [51] Int. Cl B65h 33/03 [50] Field ofSearch 93/93,93 R, 93 C, 93 DP, 93 M; 198/40; 214/6 D, 6 DS [56]References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,540,972 2/1951 Wagner et al214/6 3,379,320 4/1968 Loach et al. 93/93 3,429,240 2/1969 Kawai et al.,93/93.3 3,538,818 11/1970 Birath 93/93 Primary Examiner-Theron E. CondonAssistant Examiner-E. F. Desmond Attorney-Wenderoth, Lind and PonackABSTRACT: An apparatus for feeding and stacking printed articles such asfolded newspapers in bundles. A printed article transfer conveyor has adetecting mechanism positioned above it comprised of a light projectorand a light receiver. A bending device is provided in association withthe conveyor for successively bending printed articles being conveyed.The detecting mechanism detects the shadow formed on an over lap portionbetween the folded bent portions of preceding and succeeding printedarticles. A downwardly inclined opening and closing fork at thedischarge end of the said transfer conveyor has comblike fork halveshaving adjacent ends opposed to each other with a small clearancetherebetween and which are movable toward and away from each other asmall distance along the plane of the downwardly inclined opening andclosing fork. A rotatable basket is positioned beneath the fork halvesfor receiving a batch of articles therefrom, and a pusher is alsoprovided for pushing out a bundle of printed articles from the basketwherein printed articles are stacked to form said bundle. A bottom sheetfeeder and an identification card feeder are provided adjacent a rollerconveyor onto which the bundles are pushed. An article-counting deviceis connected to the light receiver for counting articles detected and acontrol system is connected between the counting device and the rest ofthe apparatus for controlling the operation of the various parts whenthe desired number of articles has been counted.

FROM

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sum 130? 15 COUNT END 8! MISCOUN PREVENTING CIRCUIT COUNT ENDING aMISCOUNT SBEYE IJ N .QRQQ'I .1 i {POWER AMP :50 BI;- 82;.) s3- 95;

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SHEET 15 0F 15 Y RY ACTUATE FIG-27 5 TIMER 2|O {5 RELEASE MER 2 [ACTUATElu t ETE 18 AND I, ACTUATE RELEASE FORK CLOSE T|MER 2 3 A ACTUATINGPISTON ACTION COUNTER 2l5 TIMER 1:3 ACTUATE COMPLETE SETTER J )OPEN 2L9TURNING COUNTER 2|? TURN ACTION OVER ACTUATOR\ 2l8 ACTUATE TO PUSH ANDRETRACT SE3??? RETRACTION OVER 284 CYLINDER PUSHING ACTION OVER TIMER2l6 ACTUATE E%ER SOLENOID ACTUATEJ SHEET W INVENTORS I78 FEEDER HAJIMESHIBANUMA CLUTCH TANEJ] KISHIOKA SOLENOID ATTORNEYS APPARATUS FORFEEDING AND STACKING FOLDED PRINTED ARTICLES IN BUNDLES RELATEDAPPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of copendingapplication Ser. No. 585,649, filed Oct. 10, 1966, now abandoned.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for conveying foldedprinted articles, such as newspapers, while counting them, and thenstacking them in bundles under the control of the means for counting.

There have heretofore been developed a number of devices for conveyingand stacking articles of this type, but all of them have been quitecumbersome and complicated, therefore making them difiicult to operateand to accommodate in existing space in printing plants.

There is therefore a need for an apparatus of this type which is compactand relatively simple in its construction, yet which can be operated inan accurate and sufficiently flexible way that changes in the number ofarticles in the bundles and changes in the classification of thebundles, such as destination of the bundles, type of transportation tobe used, etc. can be changed without having to make a large number ofadjustments in the apparatus or its operation.

The main object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatusincluding means for accurately counting the number of transferredprinted articles by means of the detect ing mechanism by sensitively andaccurately detecting the enlarged shadow on the overlap portion betweenfolded bent portions of the preceding and succeeding printed articlesbeing conveyed, which means includes a circuit for ending counting andpreventing miscounting, and an adjustable control system actuated by thecounting means for rapidly and effectively stacking and dropping theprinted articles stacked on the surface of comblike fork halves by anopening and closing movement of said fork halves, and also rapidly andeffectively pushing outthe bundle of the printed articles from thebasket by means of a pusher.

The other objects, features, functions and merits of the presentinvention will become clear from the following description and theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is a side elevation view of a stacker according to the invention;

FIG. 2A is a partial plan view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2B is a side elevation view, on an enlarged scale, of the lowerpart ofthe apparatus of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 2C is an elevation view of the right side of the apparatus of FIG.23;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the counting and grouping mechanismaccording to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the signal waveform used in themechanism of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of the principle portion of a mechanismfor changing the direction of printed articles introduced into theapparatus according to the invention:

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side elevational view of the apparatus of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the opening and closing fork of the stackerportion of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A;

FIG. 8 is a side view of a part ofthe apparatus of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the basket portion of the stacker portion ofthe apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A;

FIG. is a side viewof the basket portion shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a group of rolls for supporting printedarticles in the stacker portion of the apparatus shown in FIGS. I and2A;

FIG. 12 is a sectional-view of the basket driving mechanism for thestacker portion ofthe apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A;

FIG. 13 is a plan view of a group of delivery rolls of the stackerportion of the apparatusshown in FIGS. 1 andZA;

FIG. 14 is a plan view of a feeder for feeding bottom sheets to thestacker portion of the apparatus shown in FIGS. land 2A;

FIGS. 15 and 16 are side views of the opposite sides of the feeder ofFIG. 14;

FIG. 17 is a front view of a card feeder attached to the stacker portionof the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A;-

FIG. 18 is a side view of the card feeder of FIG. 17;

FIG. 19 is a schematic side elevation view of the detecting mechanism ofthe counting and grouping mechanism as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3;

FIG. 20 is a schematic elevation view of a device for preventingmiscounting which forms part of the counting means of FIG. 3;

FIG. 21 is a diagram of the detecting signal obtained at the one pointin FIG. 20;

FIG. 22 is a diagram of the detecting signal obtained at another pointin FIG. 20;

FIG. 23 is a block diagram of the circuitof the count ending portion ofthe device of FIG. 20;

FIG. 24 is a time diagram for the circuit of FIG. 23;

FIG. 25 is a block diagram of the miscount preventing portion of thedevice of FIG. 20;

FIG. 26 is a time diagram for the circuit of FIG. 25; and

FIG. 27 is a schematic diagram of a control system for the apparatusaccording to the invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a stacker 2 is connected to a printed articletransfer conveyor I having one end thereof facing a rotary newspaperprinting press. The conveyor 1 extends from the printing press to thestacker 2, and has the conveyor belt means inclined in a gentle planeserving as a printed matter feeding surface, and defines a single-flatsurface.

The conveyor 1 has a frame 10] extending to the stacker 2 from a housing102 at the end adjacent the press, which housing is mounted on a support103. Mounted on side plates44 on the conveyor 1 are a series of rollersl05 raround which run upper and lower conveyor belts 106 and 107 to forma spring wire conveyor for conveying the articles from the press to thestacker 2. Motor 108 on the stacker 2 is connected to the variousrollers for driving the conveyor belts 106 and 107-in a direction fromthe press to the stacker 2 at the maximum speed of the articles comingfrom the press. Rollers I09 and 110 at the end of the conveyor 1adjacent the press are driven at the speed of the press by a chain driveor the like (not shown) from the press.

At one point along the length of the feeding conveyor 1 is a detectingmechanism 3 for detecting the number of transferred printed articles bythe reflection formed on an overlapped portion between the foldedportion of one printed article and a preceding printed articleoverlapping the one printed article and positioned in an inclinedposition on the surface of the conveyor 1. The said detector 3 iscomposedof a flood Eight projector 33 and a light receiver 34. Theprinted-articles are transferred on the conveyor in a conditionin whichthey are folded in two or another required number of times. A secondinterceptor 4 having a stopper 6 for intercepting the printed articlestransferred by the conveyoris providedon the conveyor 1 downstream ofthe detector 3. A' first interceptor 5 is provided between the detector3 and the second interceptor 4. The first interceptor 5 has a stopper 35for holding down a predetermined printed article in a train offoldedarticles for a moment, thereby to provide a break in the train of foldedarticles, and an abutment 39 against which said stopper abuts. Thesecond interceptor 4 will then insert the stopper 6 thereof into the gapformed in said train'of printed articles so as to substantially stopsaid train for a moment; A control system, to be described below, isconnected to the firstinterceptor-Sto supply an instruction signal tothe first interceptorS, the control system being operated by theaforesaid deteetori3.

Stacker 2, shown in FIGS. 1, 2A-2C, and 7-13 has vertically extendingframe members 8 which are mountedupon an almost square baseplate 112. Apair of fork-.halves-l In support batches of printed articles at anupper position inside the frame members 8. A basket 20 for receivingbatches of printed articles from the aforesaid fork halves is positionedabout midway of the height of the frame members 8. The end of conveyorframe 101 is connected to the frame members 8, the lowest end of theconveyor 106 runs around rollers 9 on the frame members 8, the rollers 9being inclined to each other in the shape of a V." Below the V-shapedend of the conveyor belt is a fork-carrying frame 17 which is inclinedat the same angle as the conveyor belt 106. The: fork-carrying frame 17has two rods 113 extending in the direction of paper feed. Four sleeves114 are slidably mountedflpnsaid rods, two on each between which sleevesare connected parallel frames 12 and 13. Rods 11 extend toward afidclose to each other and from parallel frames 12 and 13. The opposedgroups of rods 11 form the pair of fork halves 11a. Connecting rods 115and 116 are linked to the ends of arm 16 mounted on rocker shaft and arerocked back and forth by cylinder 18 mounted on one side of the frame 17on brackets 18a and connected to rocker shaft 10 by a linkage 18b.Actuation of cylinder 18 causes sleeves 114 to move back and forth onrods 113 to move fork halves 11a toward and away from each other inorder to drop a batch a printed articles past the fork halves. A paperstop 19 is adjustably mounted on a small frame 117 which in turn ismounted on a frame member 8. The paper stop 19 can be moved toward oraway from the conveyor to adjust for the size of the printed paper beinghandled.

The basket 20, as shown in detail in FIGS. 9, 10, 11, has a bottom plate21 and two sideplates 24 extending upwardly therefrom. Shiftable sideguides 121 are provided at the edge of each sideplate 24, being mountedon arms 120 on shafts 119 held on the sideplates 24 by brackets 122. Theside guides 121 can be shifted back away from the edges of plates 24 bythe action of bars 129 striking against rollers 124 on arms 123 fixed onshafts 119.

Bars 129 are mounted on fulcrum shafts 131 mounted in brackets 1-30 onframe 8 on opposite sides of basket 20. Bars 129 are driven from apiston-cylinder 23 on the frame 8 through rocker arms 128 on shafts 131,one of which is directly connected to the piston rod 23a through linkmechanism 126 and the other of which is connected to the piston rodthrough links 126', 126a and 126b and bellcrank cranks 127.

The piston-cylinder mechanism 23 is operated from a source of hydraulicfluid (not shown).

There are rectangular holes 29 in the bottom plate 21 of basket 21).

Basket is supported on a supporting shaft 132 which is fixed to themiddle of the bottom of plate 21. As shown in FIG. 12, supporting shaft132 is freely rotatable inside of frame 133 on base 112, Bearings 132aare provided between shaft 132 and frame 133. Supporting shaft 132connected to a hydraulic rotary actuator 22 can be rotated only 180 ineither direction. Rotation is limited by stops 135 mounted on oppositesides of frame 133 against which arm 134 fixed on shaft 132 abuts. Thetop part 133a of frame 133 is cylindrical in shape and has a ring 136slidable along it. The ring 136 has frame members 300 mounted thereon. Aplurality of shafts 30b extend between frames 30a and freely rotatablerollers 30 are mounted on shafts 30b.

Said ring 136 is raised and lowered through link mechanism 137 by apiston-cylinder mechanism 31. Rollers 30 extend up through holes 29 inplate 21 to lift printed articles in the basket slightly to make it easyto push bundles out of basket 20.

A pusher device is provided for pushing a bundle of printed articles outof the basket 20. As shown in FIGS. 28 and 2C, the pusher device has apair of shafts 138 extending between frames 8 and having gears 139thereon meshing with each other. A pair of arms 140 is provided, one oneach shaft and each having a driving arm 141 connected to the free endthereof and slidably connected to the back of pusher plate 26 to form apantograph type of linkage pivoted at 27.

Because arms and 141 are pantographically connected to pusher plate 26,when the piston rod 28a of cylinder 28 pivots arm 138a pivoted theretoand mounted on one shaft 138, shafts 138 rotate through gears 139, andsaid pushing plate 26 moves horizontally.

The movement of said pusher plate is caused to take place smoothly byproviding a rocker arm 148 pivotally connected to the end of piston 28opposite the piston rod 28a. The rocker arm 148 is mounted on rockershaft 147 which is parallel to shafts 138 and which has a rocker arm 146at the other end thereof. Rocker arm 146 is linked by link to bellcrank144 pivoted on frame member 8. The other end of bellcrank 144 has a camfollower 143 thereon running in cam groove 142a of cam 142 mounted onone of the shafts 138.

Extending laterally of the basket 20 on the side toward which pusher 25moves is a conveyor 32 having rollers 32a mounted on roller conveyorframe 149 for conveying bundles away from said stacker 2. A top view ofthe conveyor is shown in FIG. 13.

Positioned on the opposite side of the stacker 2 from roller conveyor 32is a sheet feeder 66 for feeding protective bottom sheets onto the plate21 before articles are dropped thereon from fork halves 11a. The sheetfeeder is shown in detail in FIGS. 14, 15 & 16. The sheet feeder has apair of parallel side frames 150 between which are mounted side-by-sidefeeding rollers 100 driven by motor 151 through belt 151a. Pinch rollers1000 are positioned above the feeding rollers 100 and rest thereon underthe effect of their own weight.

A suction foot 69 is provided to lift the end of a top sheet 67 in astack 99 of sheets and feed it to rollers 100 and 1000 which feed it tothe basket.

The motor 151 is connected to operating pulley 154 by a belt 152a. Anelectromagnetic clutch (not shown) is provided between motor 151 andpulley 152. A vacuum pump 153 is also driven by motor 151.

Pulley 154 drives a cam 156 on camshaft 157 through a reduction gearingand gears 155a and 157a on one side frame 150. As shown in FIG. 14,camshaft 157 has a crank 158 outside the opposite side frame 150. Shaft159 extending between frames 150 parallel to camshaft 157 has a camfollower 70 mounted thereon which follows said cam 156. Brackets 160 aremounted on shaft 159 and on the other end of brackets 160 is asupporting shaft 161 on which suction feet 69 are mounted.

The top of each suction foot 69 is connected to the inlet of said vacuumpump 153 by a flexible tube 153a, only part of which is shown. A controlvalve 162 is mounted in the tube 1530 between the vacuum pump 153 andthe suction feet 69.

The time during which suction takes place is controlled by anothertiming cam 156a on camshaft 157 through a cam follower 162a, crank arm162b, stop bolt 162C and flap valve member 162d pivoted on valve casing162a and opening and closing vent 162f.

Stack-carrying table 68 is suspended from chains extending over sprocketwheels 164 mounted on shaft 163 and balanced by counterweights 165a. Thestack-carrying table is moved up and down by turning gear 166 on the endof shaft 163. The gear 166 is coupled to a stack lifting devicecomposing a worm 167 meshing with gear 166 and driven by bevel gear 168.

The shaft 169 on which bevel gear 168 is mounted is mounted in bracket170 on side frame 150 and has a ratchet wheel 171 to which a manuallyoperated crank handle 171a is connected through said shaft 169. Aratchet 172 is engageable with ratchet wheel 171 and is mounted on theend of a swing plate 173 pivotally connected to connecting rod 174 whichin turn is connected with crank 158. Releasing cam 175 for releasingratchet 172 from the ratchet wheel 171 is placed on the other side ofratchet wheel 171 from swing plate 173 and is supported on shaft 169.

The end of release cam 175 is connected to spring 177 through pivotedlever 176a and link 176, and spring 177 exerts a force thereon tendingto pivot release cam 175 in the nonreleasing direction.

A solenoid 178 is mounted on sidewall 150 and is connected to the end ofrod 17641 with spring 177. When the solenoid is deenergized, release cam175 is pivoted by the spring 177 and ratchet 172 is engaged with ratchetwheel 171.

Rotation of camshaft 157 rotates crank 158 and reciprocates rod 174.This oscillates swing plate 173 to oscillate ratchet I72 to driveratchet wheel 171 stepwise. This rotates bevel gear 168, worm gear 167and worn wheel 166 so that the sprocket wheels 164 mounted on shaft 163rotate and move the chains 165 and lift the table 68.

A sheet height control device is provided for keeping the level of thetop 67 of the stack 99 of sheets constant.

Anns 180 and 182 are fixed on a shaft 179 which is supported on theframe 150 and a detecting roll 180 is rotatably mounted at the free endof arm 180. The roll 180 rests on the top shaft 67 of the stack 99;

The free end of arm 182 is moved up and down by changes in the height ofsaid roll 181 and operates limit switch 183. A working range controldevice 184 is provided around arm 182 and limits the movement thereof.

The limit switch 183 is connected to the solenoid 178 shown in FIGS. 14and 15. When the level of the top sheet 67 of the stack 99 is too low,the limit switch 183 is open, and the solenoid is deenergized. Theratchet brake means described above is held out of the actuatingposition so that the ratchet 172 is engaged with the ratchet wheel 171.The means for raising the table 68 is thus operated. When the tablereaches the height such that the level of the top sheet of the stack 99is proper, the arms 180 and 182 are pivoted so as to close switch 183.This energizes solenoid 178, moving lever 176a and link 176 so as toswing the release cam 175 into engagement with the ratchet 172 and pivotthe ratchet out of engagement with the ratchet wheel 171. The table isthus no longer raised.

Shown in FIGS. 17 and 18 is a card feeder 36 for feeding identificationcards 40 to the stacks of folded articles. This card feeder ispositioned to the side of the roller conveyor 32, as shown in FIG. 2a,and feed cards onto the tops of the stacks of folded articles pushedonto the roller conveyor 32 by the stacker. Cards 40 are stacked insidean identification card supply basket 190.'The basket is composed of thinchromed sheet metal fingers 191 which diverge outwardly at the top ofthe basket. An annular frame member 192 supports the fingers 191 at thetop and bottom of the basket. Spaced below the bottom of the basket adistance just sufficient to enable a card to pass are two pairs ofsupporting rollers 193 mounted on the inside of the casing 194 on whichthe basket 190 is mounted. A bracket 195 inside'casing 194 has a shaft196 thereon on which an arm 38 is pivoted. As seen-in FIG. 18, the arm38 is a generally Y-shaped arm, and at the top end of each of the brancharms thereof is adjustably mounted a kicker 197. The kicker passesbetween the pairs of rollers 193 and engages the bottom card in thestack to push it out from under the stack. A chute 37 is providedadjacent the bottom of the stack to receive the kicked out card andconvey it to the top of the stack of folded articles. The arm 38 isactuated by a solenoid 200 which acts on an link 198 pivoted to the arm38, and having a bracket 199 on the end thereof to which the rod of thesolenoid is connected. The arm 38 is spring loaded away from thesolenoid 200 by a spring 1980. The solenoid is connected to the controlsystem for actuation when the pusher device 25, described above, hascompleted its operation and pushed a stack of folded articles out of thestacker.

Shown in FIGS. 6 and -5 is a flow direction change mechanism 244provided between the press and the transfer conveyor for changing thedirection of flow of a line of printed sheets transferred from theprinting press if an accident should happen to the transfer conveyor 1.A roll 47 is rotatably supported on a support shaft 46 horizontallymounted between two frames 45 of the flow direction change mechanism 44.A manually operable handle 49 is mounted on the extension 48 of thesupport shaft 46 projecting through one of the frames 45. A lockingpawl50 and a lever 51 are mounted on said extension 48 at the rearposition of the manual handle 49.

A hook 53 is mounted on a shaft 52 journaled in the frame 45. Thelocking pawl 50 is releasably engaged with the said hook 53. Mounted onthe other end of the shaft 52, that is, the end opposite to the hook 53is a level 54 for driving the hook. A connecting lever 57 is connectedbetween the lever 54'and an actuator rod 56 for a solenoid 55 whichdrives the lever 54. A spring 58 is provided between pins on said lever54 and frame 45, respectively.

A damper 59 is connected to the lever 51mounted on the extension 48 andserves to absorb shock and slack on the following arms 60. In addition,the handle 49 and arms 60 rotate around the axis of the support shaft46.

The aforesaid arms 60 are mounted onthe support shaft 46 on oppositeends of the roll 47. A change roll 61 is rotatably supported at thefront ends of the arms 60 and its position is adapted to be changed byoperation of the solenoid 55. A link 63 has one end connected to thelever Stand the other end is mounted on one end of a lever on shaft 62horizontally mounted above the roll 47. A required number of guides 64are mounted on the shaft 62 so as to have their front'portionspositioned above the change roll 61. The guides 64 perform the samefunction as the change roll 61 and help cause the direction of flow of aline of printed sheets to be changed. A plurality of belts extend aroundthe change roll 61 and the roll 47.

If an accident should happen to the stacker so that printed sheets mustnot be further transferred thereto, the solenoid 55 is actuated torelease the locking pawl 50' from the hook 53 to allow the downwardmovementof the change roll 61'. In this way, the action of the changemechanism 244 allows the successively transferred printed sheets to movedownwardly along conveyors 201, instead of moving them to the stacker.Therefore, the transferred printed sheets are prevented from beingdisordered in the event of accidents to the stacker, and these printedsheets, after being conveyed on conveyors 201 can be transferred toanother stacker which-is being operated.

The apparatus includes a control system for-controlling the operationsof the various parts. The detecting mechanism 3 is coupled with theinterceptor 5 through a system, I to 'be described below, for producingactuation ofthe interceptor-5 after a certain number of folded articleshave been counted. The control system also includes a connection (notshown) to the means for supplying a hydraulic fluid to the actuatingcylinders 18 for the fork halves [la in orderto cause the them to beseparated after the desired number of articles has been stacked thereon.Coupled to the means for supplying the hydraulic fluid to the actuatingcylinder l8'is a means for ac tuating the cylinders 23 and 31 foractuating the side guides 121 and for rotating the plate 21 of thestacker. Each time the fork halves are actuated, the side guides areactuated to align the articles and plate 21 is rotated by rotaryactuator 22. Also connected to the detecting mechanism 3 and interceptor5 is the means for actuating the cylinder 28 of'the pusher device 25,for actuating the cylinder 28 when the detector 3 has counted all of thearticles which are to be included in a stack. Connected to the means foractuating cylinder 28 is the means for actuating the solenoid 200 of thecard feeding means 36 and the drive for the motor 151 for the sheetfeeder 66; The folded printed articles, such as newspaper are. receivedfrom a press or the like, and successively and continuously transferredin the form of a transfer train by means of the printed article transferconveyor 1. This train of articles is divided into batches of therequired number of copies, the batches together constituting the numberof copiesto be placed in a bundle in accordance with a programdetermining in advance the number of copies to be'bundled.Whe'n'=a="number-of articles in a batch is counted, after-a properinterval the first interceptor 5 momentarily engages the train ofarticles to produce a break in the train. The first interceptor 5 holdsdown a predetermined printed article for a moment by gripping thearticle from-above and below -by a stop 35-and an abutment 37. Theholding-down-of the printed article-by the interceptor 5 is by means ofinstructionsfrom the control mechanism so as to obtain the number ofcopies in a batch. That is, the number of copies detected by thedetector 3 is compared with a set number, and when these numberscoincide, the holding-down of the printed article by the interceptor 5takes place. For example, when the number of copies for forming a batchis set to be 30, a printed article corresponding to the 31st in thetrain of printed articles is held down by the interceptor 5.

The stopper 6 of the second interceptor 4 is inserted into the breakwhen the break passes under the stopper 6 by the control systemdescribed below. When all the printed articles constituting this batchhave fallen on top of each other in a stack on the fork halves 11a and13, the fork halves lla are moved in opposite directions parallel to theinclined conveyor 1 by the hydraulic cylinder 18. The batch placed onthe inclined fork halves drops through the central opening between thefork halves into the basket 20, and the fork halves close. The batch isaligned in a stack by operation of the side guides 121 adapted to beopened by cylinder 23 before the bundle is pushed out as describedbelow. Then the batch in the basket is rotated by 180 by the hydraulicrotary actuator 22. Since the fork halves have already returned to theiroriginal position, the fork halves are in a closed condition to receivethe next batch. The interceptor 4 continues to intercept the train ofarticles while the fork halves are in the open condition. After the forkhalves are closed, said interceptor 4 stops intercepting and the trainof articles which has so far been intercepted will then be carried ontothe fork halves. After a first batch drops down into the basket 20, andis rotated I80 and after the completion of this rotation, a second batchis stacked upon the first batch, followed by the stacking of successivebatches in the same manner. Since the basket itself is rotatedintermittently in opposite directions between each batch, the batchesare stacked with their respective folded edges arranged in staggeredrelation. When the batches stacked in the basket 20 have reached thenumber of copies corresponding to the number of copies in a bundle to beshipped as determined by the aforesaid program, the bundle is raisedslightly above the bottom 21 by the rolls 30 ready to be pushed out. Thethus raised bundle is then pushed out onto the delivery rolls 32 by thepusher device 25. In addition, the cylinders and rotary actuators forproducing these actions are successively actuated by detecting themovement of the fork halves. Thus, cards 40, such as punch cards andprinted cards on which the number, type, destination, etc. of theprinted articles are recorded in accordance with the program, aretransfered from a card feeder 36 through the card transferring chute 37provided by the kicker 197. The card is dropped down onto the top of thebundle of printed articles contained in the basket 20, said card beingused as an identification card.

It will be understood from the brief discussion of the action of thefirst interceptor 5, that it must be spaced downstream of the detectingmechanism 3 a distance such that the stopping of the flow of articles onthe conveyor at the first interceptor 5 will not affect the counting.Therefore there must be a delay provided between the counting of thelast article and the actuation of the first interceptor to give thearticle time to reach the position of the first interceptor. Inaddition, there must be means to stop the system when the end of thetrain of folded articles has been reached. Moreover, means should beprovided to prevent miscounting of the articles due to edge thereoffluttering or to the presence of a fold in the edge which would in theabsence of such means, count two folded articles where only one actuallypassed the counting device.

Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown the counting means and the controlsystem therefor. The output from the light receiver 34 is fed to a countending and miscount preventing circuit means which is connected to adetector 84 which consists ofa light beam projector 85 and receiver 86,detecting the presence or absence of the printed articles on theconveyor and to a pulse generator the output of which is controlled fromthe pulley at one end of the conveyor 72 to generate a pulse each timethe conveyor moves a unit length. This circuit will be described belowin connection with FIGS. 20-26. The output of this circuit in the formof pulses representing the articles which have been detected, as shownat (s) in FIG. 26, is fed to a printed article counting circuit F, whichcounts the pulses and compares the total with a preset number fed intoit from a computer or by hand to indicate the number of folded articlesto be included in the batch being counted. The counting circuit F, isconnected on the output side with a gate circuit G, which is connectedbetween the pulse generator 92 and a pulse converter PC and to a timercircuit T,. The timer circuit T, is such as to produce a signal for acertain length of a time after receiving a signal from the pulse counterF,. When the pulse converter is receiving the signal from the timer T,,it generates a pulse having a width twice the width of the pulsesgenerated when it is not receiving the signal.

The pulse converter PC is connected to a second gate circuit G which inturn is connected between a source I of con stant current and acapacitor C,,. The output of the capacitor C,, is connected to acomparison circuit H, the output of which is connected to a relay RY foroperating the first interceptor 5. Also connected to the comparisoncircuit is a voltage supply circuit 43 the voltage V, of which can beadjusted to represent the length I of the conveyor which will hold agiven number of folded articles.

The timer circuit T, is set to produce a signal having a durationrelated to the duration of operation of the interceptor 4, for exampleabout 0.1 to 0.3 sec. When the counter circuit F, has counted a numberof articles equal to the preset value therein, a signal is sent to gatecircuit G, and pulses in the form of signal P shown in FIG. 4 are gatedfrom the pulse generator 92 to the pulse converter PC. A signal of timet, for example the 0. 1-0.3 sec length of time, is also sent from timercircuit to pulse converter PC as shown as B of FIG. 4. If the speed ofthe conveyor is slow, the time I will be smaller than the time betweenthe pulses of signal P, and the pulse converter will convert the firstpulse in signal P and all subsequent pulses to pulses of width w asshown in signal D on the left portion of FIG. 4. On the other hand ifthe speed of the conveyor is fast, the first pulses of the signal P willarrive at the pulses converter PC while the time circuit signal is beingreceived, and the pulse converter PC will produce one or more pulses ofdouble the usual width i.e. width 2w, after which it will again producepulses of the normal width, as shown on the right portion of FIG. 4.

The signal D is fed to the gate circuit G and at each pulse thecapacitor C is charged from the current supply I. Where all of thepulses are of equal width w, the charge on the capacitor C, builds up inequal steps until it reaches a voltage V, equal to the voltage beingsupplied to the comparison circuit H, from the circuit 43 as shown in Fin FIG. 4. At this point, a pulse is supplied to the relay RY, as shownat Y in FIG. 4. Since the voltage F at which the pulse is supplied tothe relay RY takes an amount of time to build up on the capacitor C,equal to the length of time that the last article counted moves throughthe distance L on the conveyor, the interceptor S will be actuated justafter the last-counted article passes under the interceptor 5.

Where the first of the pulses feed to the gate circuit G are of width2w, the initial buildup of voltage on the capacitance C will be faster,as shown on the right of FIG. 4. The voltage V, will therefore bereached sooner than in the case described above, and the pulse for therelay RY will be produced sooner. Since this is due to the speed of theconveyor being greater, the interceptor will nevertheless be actuatedjust after the last article counted reaches the interceptor after movinga distance L along the conveyor.

A reset circuit is connected between the timer 210 and the pulse counterF, to reset the counter and cut off the signal to the gate circuit G,after the relay RY actuates the interceptor 5.

In order to increase the reliability of the counting as shown in FIG. 19there is provided in the conveyor at the detecting mechanism 3 a bendingdevice H for successively bending printed articles moving along theconveyor. The said bending

1. An apparatus for feeding and stacking folded printed articles inbundles, comprising conveyor means adapted to receive folded printedarticles and inclined downwardly from the receiving end; anarticle-counting means including a light projector aimed at the articleson the conveyor, a light-receiver positioned to receive light reflectedfrom the printed articles, a counting device connected to the lightreceiver for counting the articles based on the reflected light, and adelay means connected to the counting device for providing a delayedresponse when the desired number of articles have been counted; a firstinterceptor positioned adjAcent the conveyor downstream of thearticlecounting means and connected to said delay means and actuated bysaid response for momentarily intercepting the articles on the conveyorat the last article counted; a second interceptor positioned downstreamof said first interceptor and adjacent the conveyor and for interceptingsaid articles at the break in the articles produced by the firstinterceptor; a downwardly inclined opening and closing fork means belowthe discharge end of the conveyor and having two fork halves inclined onthe same inclination as said conveyor means and movable toward and awayfrom each other and having means for moving said fork halves; a basketbeneath said fork halves for receiving articles from said fork halveswhen the fork halves are moved away from each other, said basket beingrotatable around a vertical axis through 180* and having means connectedthereto for rotating said basket in one direction and then in the other;a pusher positioned adjacent said basket and having a plate movablelaterally across said basket for pushing a bundle of printed articlesout of the basket and plate moving means connected to said plate; afurther conveyor means extending laterally from said basket forreceiving bundles from the basket; a sheet-feeder positioned adjacentsaid basket for feeding a sheet of material into the basket prior to thedropping of articles into it from said fork halves, and includingsheet-feeder driving means; a card feeder adjacent said further conveyorfor feeding an identification card onto a bundle pushed from the basketand including card-feeder driving means; and a control system coupledbetween said article-counting means, said interceptors and said forkhalf moving means, basketrotating means, pusher plate moving means,sheet-feeder driving means, and said card-feeder driving means foroperating said respective means in sequence for feeding a sheet intosaid basket, dropping a plurality of batches of articles accumulated onsaid fork halves into said basket while said second interceptor isholding back the articles on the conveyor means, and rotating saidbasket between the dropping of each batch, and when a bundle of thedesired number of batches has been formed pushing the bundle onto thefurther conveyor and feeding an identification card onto the topthereof.
 2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said conveyormeans has two portions, a portion at the receiving end adapted to bedriven from a folded printed article delivery means and a constanthigh-speed portion on the discharge end, the article-counting means andfirst interceptor being associated with the receiving end portion, andsaid counting device and said delay means comprises a pulse counter forreceiving and counting pulses and which can be set to count a givennumber of pulses and then emit a signal, a pulse generator coupled tosaid receiving end conveyor portion and emitting pulses in accordancewith the speed of said receiving end conveyor portion, means coupled tosaid pulse counter and pulse generator for storing pulses for apredetermined time in proportion to the speed of the receiving endportion of the conveyor means and emitting an actuating signal to thefirst interceptor when the stored pulses match the desired number ofarticles to be counted.
 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 15 in whichsaid storing means comprise a first gate circuit coupled to said pulsegenerator and to said pulse counter for opening said first gate circuitwhen the pulse counter has counted the desired number of pulses, a pulseconverter to which said first gate circuit is coupled, a timer coupledbetween said pulse counter and said pulse converter for feeding a signalto said pulse converter for a certain period of time after beingactuated by the pulse counter when the desired number of pulses has beencounted, a source of current, a capacitor, a second gate circuit coupledbetween said source of current and said capacitor and coupled to saidpulsE converter and being opened by pulses from said pulse converter, acomparison circuit coupled to said capacitor, a variable voltage supplycoupled to said comparison circuit to supply a comparison voltagethereto in proportion to the distance between the reflection point ofsaid light projector and said first interceptor, and a relay coupled tosaid comparison circuit and actuated when said comparison circuitproduces a signal when the capacitor voltage reaches the comparisonvoltage, the relay being coupled to said first interceptor.
 4. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said conveyor means includes aconveyor belt means and bending means engaged with said conveyor beltmeans for producing an upward bend in said conveyor belt means at thepoint at which the light from the light projector strikes the articlesbeing conveyed, whereby the articles are bent to expose a greater areathereof as they pass over the bending means.
 5. An apparatus as claimedin claim 4 in which said conveyor belt bending means comprises twospaced rolls beneath the conveyor belt means, a third roll between saidspaced rolls and projecting above said spaced rolls, an upwardlyinclined upper belt spaced above the upwardly inclined portion of theconveyor belt means, and a downwardly inclined upper belt spaced abovethe downwardly inclined portion of the conveyor belt means for feedingthe articles, said inclined upper belts intersecting over the said thirdroll.
 6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a countending circuit coupled between said light receiver and said countingdevice and a detecting means positioned upstream of said light projectorand light receiver for detecting the presence or absence of articles onthe conveyor and coupled to said count ending circuit for preventingfurther counting when the end of the articles on the conveyor isdetected.
 7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 6 in which said countending circuit comprises a gate circuit coupled between said lightreceiver and said counting device, and gate circuit actuating meansresponsive to the signal from said detecting means for closing said gatecircuit for a predetermined time corresponding to a distance along theconveyor after the end of the articles has reached the detecting point,and then reopening the gate circuit.
 8. An apparatus as claimed in claim1 further comprising a miscount preventing circuit coupled between thelight receiver and the counting device for preventing the countingdevice from counting pulses for a certain time corresponding to adistance along the conveyor after an article has been counted.
 9. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 8 in which said miscount preventingcircuit comprises a flip-flop circuit coupled between said lightreceiver and said counting device, and flip-flop circuit-actuating meanscoupled to said flip-flop circuit for causing the circuit to changestate upon receiving a pulse from the light receiver and to be changedback only after a predetermined time corresponding to a distance alongthe conveyor.
 10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which saidcontrol system comprises an article-counting means actuated timercoupled to said first interceptor for resetting said first interceptor,a second interceptor timer means to which said article-counting meansactuated timer is coupled and coupled to said second interceptor, afork-actuating timer to which said article-counting means actuated timeris coupled, and coupled to said fork-half moving means, a fork-closingtimer to which said fork-half moving means is coupled for closing thefork halves after opening thereof is completed, the fork-half movingmeans being coupled to said second interceptor to provide a signal uponcompletion of fork-half closing to cause said second interceptor torelease the articles on the conveyor, ADD circuits for saidbasket-rotating means and said pusher-plate moving means, saidfork-actuating timer also being coupled to said basket-rotating meansand sAid pusher-plate moving means through a further timer and therespective ADD circuits, a turning counter coupled to saidbasket-rotating means through the ADD circuit therefor and beingconnected to the basket-rotating means for receiving a signal whenrotation is completed, said turning counter being coupled to saidpusher-plate moving means through the ADD circuit therefor and beingconnected to said pusher-plate moving means to receive a signal when thepushing action is complete, a card-feeder timer to which thepusher-plate moving means is coupled, the card-feeder timer beingcoupled to said card-feeder driving means, and the ADD circuit for saidpusher-plate moving means also being coupled to said sheet-feederdriving means.
 11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which said forkmeans includes a paper stopper having arms projecting downwardly betweenthe fork half remote from the conveyor means and movably mounted foradjustment toward and away from the conveyor means depending on the sizeof the folded articles being stacked.
 12. An apparatus as claimed inclaim 1 in which said sheet feeder comprises a base for holding a stackof sheets, lifting means connected to said base for raising said base, asuction feed means above said base for feeding sheets one by one, andguide rolls adjacent said suction feed means for receiving sheets fromthe suction feed means and guiding them into said basket, said drivingmeans actuating said suction feed means.
 13. An apparatus as claimed inclaim 1 in which said basket has a baseplate having a plurality of holestherein, a plurality of rollers mounted below said baseplate alignedwith said holes, and lifting means coupled to said rollers for liftingsaid rollers through said holes to raise a bundle of articles on saidrollers prior to their being pushed out of said basket.
 14. An apparatusfor feeding and stacking printed articles from a source comprising aprinted article transfer conveyor having a single-flat surface, apreliminary interceptor positioned along the length of said transferconveyor and having a stopper adapted for holding back a predeterminednumber of printed articles on the conveyor for a moment, a finalinterceptor positioned along the length of the transfer conveyordownstream of said preliminary interceptor and having a stopper adaptedfor substantially intercepting a line of printed articles on said flatsurface of said conveyor, a downwardly inclined opening and closing forkmeans at the discharge end of said conveyor having comblike fork halveshaving adjacent ends opposed to each other with a small clearancetherebetween and being movable toward and away from each other a smalldistance along the inclined plane of the downwardly inclined opening andclosing fork, a cylinder associated with one fork half, a machine frameon which the cylinder is mounted, a link mechanism connected betweensaid cylinder and the other fork half, means beneath said opening andclosing fork means for catching printed articles transferred directlyfrom the discharge end of said printed article transfer conveyor, and achange mechanism positioned between the source and the receiving end ofsaid conveyor for changing the direction of flow of a line of printedarticles, said mechanism comprising a support shaft, a roll rotatablysupported on said support shaft, a manually operable handle mounted on aportion of said support shaft, a locking pawl and a lever being mountedon said support shaft, a frame having a further shaft thereon, a hookmounted on one end of said further shaft and with which said lockingpawl is releasably engaged, a further lever for driving said hook beingmounted on the other end of said further shaft, a solenoid having anactuator rod for driving said further lever, a connecting leverconnected between said further lever and said actuator rod, a springconnected between said connecting lever and said frame, a damperconnected to said lever mounted on the extension to absorb shock, a paIrof arms mounted on the support shaft, a change roll being rotatablysupported at the free ends of the arms and adapted to have its positionchanged by actuation of the solenoid, a guide-supporting shafthorizontally mounted above the roll, a plurality of guides mounted onthe shaft, a link connected between said lever and said guide-supportingshaft for rotating said guide-supporting shaft, and a plurality of beltsextending around the change roll and the roll.